There are many things in life, such breathing
and the beating of our hearts that are automatic. We take little notice of
these functions precisely because they require no learning or effort on our
part. However, other than our automatic body functions, nearly everything in
this earthly life requires learning and effort.
It could be said that living is the act of being a lifelong student and
lifelong enactor of our learning. It is
a great fallacy to assume that one can be or do anything successfully without
both learning and effort.
In fact, the more difficult the task is, the
more learning and effort that is required from the individual. Consider the
typical American life, one learns and applies effort to ride a bike, drive a
car, manage a checkbook, and so on; when we achieve a level of proficiency we
can then be called cyclists, drivers, and money managers. This is no less true when it comes being a
Christian. Being a Christian requires a level of proficiency. In fact, Orthodox Christians believe it is
the one thing that requires the greatest level of proficiency in all of life.
From the Orthodox Christian perspective becoming
Orthodox is a lifelong event that is nothing less than arduous. Becoming Orthodox is not something for the
weak hearted or the lazy, rather it requires a strong resolve and a maximum
effort from birth to death. This is
perhaps why Orthodoxy can be either extremely attractive or extremely unattractive,
depending upon one’s preferences.
Historically
American Christianity has catered to both kinds of people. The conservative sects have taught: “Christ
died for your sins and erased them, so don’t worry about the past, but from now
on don’t drink, don’t smoke, don’t do drugs, don’t dance, don’t curse, don’t
lie, dress modestly, be nice, tithe to the church, obey your leaders, and come
to church.”
The liberal sects have taught: “Christ was a
great example of a human, be who you are, do what you want to do, try not to
bother anyone, stand up for the individual’s freedom to do as he pleases, fight
for equality, and most of all be happy.”
Post modern Christianity is a hybrid of the
two, picking and choosing what a particular sect finds more desirable. Obviously each sect has their hobby horse;
however, in all cases the attainment of proficiency as a “sectarian Christian”
is fairly easy. Learn the various
tenants of the sect’s confession and follow the few basic guidelines, and you
are living the Christian life.
Five years into my journey to become Orthodox,
I have come to learn that it is not so easy for the Christian Orthodox. There
is so much to learn; our faith has a content has two thousand years of
substance. It contains the scriptures, the consensus of the fathers, the
council’s, the creeds, the canons, the liturgies, the hymnography, the
iconography, the monastic teachings.
There so much to apply our effort towards: the
healing of our souls, the undoing of our delusion, the destroying of our
disordered passions, the hesychast practices, the liturgical cycles, the cycles
of life in the book of needs, and most of the endless struggle to attain of Christ
likeness. We never expect a time to
arrive in the Orthodox life when we can say, I get it, and I have a good grasp
on being Orthodox. There is always more, there is always a greater goal out
ahead, leading to more beauty and wisdom.
In Orthodoxy there is always a bottomless well of learning and
struggling ahead to become Christ like.
